Saving the best for last and aiming for Cheltenham Festival glory on Thyme Hill
It has been a low-key Cheltenham Festival for me but everything has led towards my final booked ride of the meeting, Thyme Hill, who I'm hoping has an excellent chance of winning the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle (2.50).
Envoi Allen's easy success in Wednesday's Ballymore Novices' Hurdle provided a further boost to the form of last season's Champion Bumper, in which Thyme Hill finished a good third, only two and a half lengths behind Envoi Allen and one place in front of Abacadabras, who so nearly landed the Supreme on Tuesday. That form really could not be stronger, which has to boost confidence.
I rode him at home last week and could not have been happier. It is very hard to know how good he is, or how good he could be, but he has done everything we have asked of him this season, winning all three of his races over hurdles, every one of them in Graded company.
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